Cheap The Super Mario Bros. (DVD) (Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper) (Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, Roland Joffé, Dean Semler) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Super Mario Bros.

This, unfortunately, has to be my favorite movie
For all those people who are totally tearing the movie, you will probably grow up to be critics. It IS true that the movie will never be on any The Best of The Century's Movies list, but if you're looking for entertainment: Mario Bros. are your men. The movie is not made to be believable: two "brothers" get trapped in another dimension while trying to save Luigi's kind of girlfriend, who happens to be the princess of this strange world. The princess is trying to reverse the damage King Koopa did to her father (he turned him into a giant ball of fungus). In the end, the Mario Bros. save the day (did you expect a different ending?). Don't expect a recreation of the game; this movie is a far cry from any version of Super Mario. I have watched and rewatched this movie since I was little and I STILL have to say that it is my favorite. The plot line is a wee bit out there, yes; it's not like the game, that's true; all the aspiring critics out there will not get into it, unfortunately; but for all you normal people out there who don't care what the rest of the world thinks about reality and just want a nice, quiet night to yourself or with a loved one: check this out.

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Brooklyn Boys Rule
Like Brooklyn guido-hero Tony Manero of Fever, Mario & Luigi give you something to cheer for in this goofy but fun movie. When I first saw this flick in 1993, I was a little dissapointed considering I was 11 and was sitting there constantly looking for video game comparisons (like why doesn't Luigi have a mustache and why is Koopa a human) instead of enjoying the movie for what it was: a good time. Now, ten years later I relived this film for the second time and now I love it! Let me tell you why. First of all, Hoskins ("Eddie Valiant" in Roger Rabbit) and Leguizamo ("Benny Blanco from the Bronx" in Carlito's Way) are absolutely perfect casting choices. Lou Albano and the other guy that played Mario and Luigi in the old live action TV show were good too but Hoskins and Leguizamo are far better. The special effects were cutting edge for ten years ago and I'm surprised it didn't do too well at the box office. The dinosaur characters were probably so apparant due to the Jurassic Park craze of the 90's and a lot of the dino creatures in Mario Bros look like they could have been in a Jurassic sequel. But nevertheless, the film was funny, easy to watch and enjoyable for a Wednesday night. The early scene when the bros and Daisy and Daniella (hotties!) are in the Brooklyn Italian restaurant chowing down on spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread would make any goomba hungry. Great scenes include the waterslide-like pipe ride (which looks like a ball!) and the disco dance scene. Koopa's castle is an eerie Twin Towers recreation that is more appreciated now than when the film came out. It's the World Trade buildings with half of one tower demolished. I hope the DVD version offers a lot of extras.

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A completely misunderstood movie. Here's why it is good.
Most people tend to hate this film. I think, though, that they hate it because they're looking at it the wrong way. It's one of those movies that has a point, and if you miss that, you don't get any of it.

Their mistake is to watch this expecting a Mario movie. I know, it sounds like the right thing to expect, but hear me out. Fans of the game know what Mario is all about - powerups, angry mushrooms, winged turtles and flying blocks. If you watch this movie expecting that, you'll be disappointed, as you'll find NONE of it. But that's not to say it isn't worth watching.

Picture the scene: a couple of directors are asked to make a Mario movie by Nintendo, and they want it to be live action. That was the flavour at the time - take cartoon characters and make them real. Now, these directors know about Mario. They say "No way can that be done. Mario is all about being a cartoon. Jumping on little angry animals, everyone's a mushroom... It's a great game, and it'd make a good cartoon, but a live action version would just be moronic." "Oh, don't worry about that," says Nintendo, "just so long as you get the main elements in, do it how you want."

The directors go away, rubbing their chins, trying to think of a way to do that but still do justice to the games. And then they have a fascinating idea.

What if they don't do a Mario film, exactly. What if they do a sci-fi film, but fill it to the brim with Mario references, for the keen-eyed game fans?

That's what this movie is. If you watch it with that in mind, you will enjoy it. I've tested this theory out already on a friend who thought the film was a bit stupid when he saw it as a kid, but watched it yesterday with my little thesis in mind and he loved it.

What you get here is a quite serious (despite the light-hearted script) sci-fi flick about the nightmarish world ours may soon become: crowded, filthy, choked with pollution and overrun with a hate-filled populace who will fight you, yell at you, even try to shoot you if you pass too close. Run by a demonic well-dressed dictator politician (played to amazing effect by Dennis Hopper) who has let this world become the dark horror it is through neglect: there is no water any more, only sludge, and a slimy infestation of fungus has grown over everything, draped in great loops like one gigantic, chaotic spider web. Into this world come Mario and Luigi, similar to their game counterparts but more human, a pair of plumber brothers from Brooklyn who grew up together as orphans. They are trying to save a girl, who has been kidnapped and dragged here, and along the way they get wrapped up in something really horrifying: the president and his people are human, but human descended from dinosaurs instead of apes. He's found a way to revert his citizens back to their prehistoric roots, and with his army of lizard lackeys he's going to bridge the split between worlds (that formed when the meteorite that "killed" the dinosaurs hit) and take over our own.

And through all this we find references of the sort that Mario's biggest fans will drool over, so long as they are watching this in the way I suggest. These prove that the film has been put together not by someone ignorant of the games, but by someone very well versed in their lore. A large woman called Big Bertha, dressed all in red, is named in reference to a large red fish enemy from Mario 3. She wears mechanical boots named "Thwomp-Stompers", after the classic ice block enemies, and they are powered by capsules that look exactly like Bullet Bills, from Super Mario Bros 1. Shops are apparently owned by people with the same names as characters from the games (Hammer Bros and Bullet Bill), a protest singer is named after Toad, the happy little mushroom from the games, but his hair is shaved into the pattern on the shell of Lakitu, a fan favourite since day one. These references go on throughout the film and shape its world - the fungus, which turns out to be a conscious entity, helps the brothers in every way it can; they are saved on more than one occasion by mushrooms, in what has become a literal mushroom kingdom.

It's all in here if you keep your eyes peeled. Go in ready to watch not a Mario film, but a film that references Mario, and you will love it. It doesn't "change" anything from the games, because it is not any kind of filmed version of them, but it nods to them constantly.

Viewed in this light, it is a treat to watch, and a rare treat, because no other film has ever crammed in so many references to videogaming before. Simply put, a live action Mario film could never be made, and the directors asked to make one did a brilliant job at trying something new and original. Well worth the ten dollars for the DVD.